Accused - The Salem Witch Trials

The infamous Salem Witch Trials were not the first instances where someone was executed for witchcraft in the Massachusetts colony area. After examining some of the context in Salem surrounding the trials one may understand the following events a little bit more.

Certain qualities of the area and population made it very vulnerable to the mass hysteria which fueled the events of the Salem witch Trials.

Legal Sytem

In 1641, when the colonists established a legal code, the first capital crime was idolatry. The second was witchcraft. “If any man or woman be a witch, that is, has or consults with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death,” read the Massachusetts body of laws. Blasphemy came next, followed by murder, poisoning, and bestiality.

Death was a common punishent for an accused witch.

Before trial, those accused would be kept in jail for months at a time.

Witchcraft was the second crime established in the colony’s legal code.

In the years since forming, New England had indicted more than a hundred witches, about a quarter of them men.

Puritanism

Puritans believed that God expected them to live according to the Scriptures, to reform the Anglican Church, and to set a good example. Most early migrants to the Massachusetts Bay Colony were full-fledged members of the Puritan faith.

Puritans also believed that unfortunate natural phenomena, like a bad crop season, meant that somebody among them was doing something sinful and God was punishing everyone for that person's actions.

People within their colonies who did not follow these beliefs were ostracized, and many times tried as witches.

Rivalry

There were two Salems in the late 17th century: a bustling commerce-oriented port community on Massachusetts Bay known as Salem Town, which would evolve into modern Salem, and, roughly 10 miles inland from it, a smaller, poorer farming community of some 500 persons known as Salem Village.

The village was ruled by a rivalry between its two leading families—the well-heeled Porters, who had strong connections with Salem Town’s wealthy merchants, and the Putnams, who sought greater autonomy for the village. Squabbles over property were commonplace, and litigiousness was rampant.

Salem Town had about 1000 more residents than Salem Village.

The two rival families were often contentious with each other.

Eventually these squabbles escelated into irreversible accusations.

Before the

Trials

Legal Sytem

Puritanism

Rivalry